SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Fair is a showcase of the Beehive State's agriculture, goods and people.

The fair, says Jose Enriquez, director of a K-16 educational program that empowers Hispanic youths to finish high school and graduate from college, is also a natural venue to further the understanding of Utahns' respective cultures.

"There's a need for us to share common ground. What better place to do that than the fairgrounds?" said Enriquez, vice principal of Timpview High School and director of Latinos in Action.

Today, Latinos In Action — junior high and high school students from throughout the state — will volunteer and perform at the Fiesta Mexicana, to be held in conjunction with the State Fair.

Now in its 10th year, Fiesta Mexicana celebrates Mexican Independence Day or "El Grito." El Grito, Spanish for "the cry," celebrates Mexican hero Miguel Hidalgo's cry to take up arms for the nation's independence from Spain.

The fiesta begins at 11 a.m. and is free with paid admission to the fair.

Fiesta Mexicana includes traditional food, entertainment, music and ceremonies to commemorate 201 years of Mexican independence. This year's fiesta features the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Jorge Alfredo Cervantes, a Guanajuato performer, is scheduled to take the stage at 6 p.m.

The day's events also include an appearance by the University of Utah women's basketball team and photo opportunities with Maya & Miguel of the animated children's public television series of the same name.

Head coach Anthony Levrets said the U.'s women's team and coaching staff are "incredibly diverse" and as a group, try to take part in a number of cultural opportunities in the community.

"It's all of us trying to work out how to live together and reach a common goal," Levrets said.

"Plus, we want people to come to our games."

There are no Latina players on the U. women's roster this season, but that could change as soon as next year. According to ESPN.com, a Latina high school player from California has made a verbal commitment to play for the university in the 2012 season.

Utah players will sign autographs, give away game tickets and shoot hoops with children from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. "You can't ask people to come (to the games) and not give something back," he said.

This is Fiesta Mexicana's third year at the Utah State Fair, said president Jesse Soriano.

The organization made a deliberate decision to stage the event in a venue familiar to all Utahns. "The State Fair gives us a tremendous audience. It (Fiesta Mexicana) is becoming more of a general community event," Soriano said.

Soriano said it is especially important that Utahns learn about Mexican history and culture because their respective histories are intertwined. Mexico's Constitution, for instance, is modeled after the United States', Soriano said.

"I happen to think, as a old history teacher, that our histories are so interrelated we ought to teach Mexican history along with American history," he said.

Presently, U.S. immigration policies are the focal point of the two nations' shared history. Unfortunately, the rhetoric over the issues has generated more heat than light, Enriquez said.

"There doesn't need to be this hostility. The emotions run high on both ends. I feel strongly that our youth can take us to a different level by sharing and overcoming something that has been sad and a true detriment to our growth as a state," Enriquez said of the debate.

A good starting point for that conversation would be a visit to Fiesta Mexicana, Enriquez said.

"One of the things the community in general needs to know and understand is that we value the same things they do. We value our families. We value this state as well. We value what it does and how it's helped us," Enriquez said.

It is especially important that this message is communicated by youths to other youths, said Enriquez.

Popular Comments

All the festivals in the world will not calm the hostility over illegal
immigration. Only one thing will do that.

A large part of my family
came here from Mexico legally, but you won't see them at the fair until their is
change within the
More..

7:38 a.m. Sept. 17, 2011

Top comment

RichardB

Murray, UT

"There doesn't need to be this hostility."

The hostility
will exist as long as massive illegal immigration takes place between the two
countries. The attempt to de-criminalize it, sweep it under the rug, just make
it worse.

4:52 a.m. Sept. 17, 2011

Top comment

CWV1965

Taylorsville, UT

Does this confirm that Utah elected representatives have surrendered this state
to the county of Mexico? These fugitive illegal foreign nationals are flaunting
their criminal live in our faces in pure contempt and hatred to the American
people. With
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